January 27, 2007

Australian Open – Serena did it!

Serena Williams came with her “under-dog” status to steamroll fashion queen Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2 in 1 hour, 3 minutes to win the Australian Open tennis championships. For most of the short game, Maria looked like she didn’t know what hit her. She took a long time deliberating her serves. And where was her ability to cover the court? Missing.
In some of her ground strokes and serves, Serena resembled Federer. Is she, Ekalavya-style, taking lessons by watching his videos? Don’t know, but her strategy worked. From”unseeded” and dismissed as “just a dangerous floater” to the championship win is a great climb. It also helped her move from 88 to 14 in rankings. The four-month lay-off has helped her to regroup physically and emotionally.
Serena said a few significant things.
When she lost a point, she told herself, “Keep moving forward,” mouthing the words slowly.
When she won the match she fell to the ground, stood and screamed, jumped, ran to the stands to accept handshakes, came back and said, “This is the third (Australian Open). I have others to break.”
Accepting the trophy, she said, “Thank you mom. For the last two weeks, I have been yelling at you. Saying things. I didn’t mean them. Thanks for putting up with me, standing by my side.” Now, where is the famous dad? To Maria, she said, “You have more years than me in the tournament. We’ll meet again.”
Serena dedicated her trophy to her sister Yetunde. “She’s not here but I love her very much,” she said tearfully. That sister was shot dead in Los Angeles in 2003.
The crowds were totally with her, and gave her a standing ovation. Well, Vijay Amritraj was proved true. He was very sure she would win. He said she was playing better and had the determination. At a point when Serena’s cross-court volley fell untouched, he said, “Can you believe this is an unseeded player against world No: 1?” Maria, BTW, retains that position.
Welcome, come-back kid. Hope to see more of you on court.